Chemical synthesis of the high-pressure cubic-spinel phase of ZnIn₂S₄

Chemical reactions conducted in solution are known to generate solid precursors containing molecular units that help in the formation of high-temperature phases. The structural units are created by controlling the molecular environments in solution, and as a result, phases that normally form and are stable at high temperatures can be synthesized at low or moderately elevated temperatures. However, the application of chemical approaches for synthesizing phases that normally form at high pressure are relatively unknown. In this work, a simple room-temperature aqueous chemical precipitation route has been used to synthesize the high-pressure cubic spinel modification of ZnIn₂S₄. A solution coordination model (SCM) has been proposed to explain the formation of the high-pressure phase. The crystallinity, phase purity and phase transformation characteristics of the cubic phase have been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) including Rietveld refinement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Auger electron microscopy (AEM). Results of these studies are discussed in the light of a proposed solution coordination model (SCM). © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers.